October 9th-NM Border to Hopewell Lake, NM

Shortly after summitting my first pass about 11 a.m., I was treated with a fantastic view of the valley below. Just as I hit the ridge I heard my phone beeping as 2 days of text messages came through. Middle of nowhere, but there's a cell phone tower around here somewhere.

So a couple miles down the ridge I ran into a group of hunters on one of those juiced up golf carts trying to get cell reception. They were staying at a hunting camp down in the valley and were told that they could get a cell signal if they rode up to the ridge.

So I talked to them for awhile and found out they were from San Antonio. They also offered my food and water, which I gladly took. Including some m&m's, granola bars, and some great pork sausage. Mmmmmmmm.

Then I descended down to the highway and then a short climb up to Hopewell Lake campground. I decided to stay a couple of miles down from the campsite, mainly because it was free down the road and the Hopewell campsite had turned off the water, so I had to grab water from a nearby creek and purify it.